Game On

British photographer Chris Rhodes is a routine fixture on AnOthermag.com, feted for his ability to transform trivial objects and mundane rituals into vivid, compelling images. "My inspiration stems from everyday encounters, such as the car garage that influenced the concept of this story – cars have always held a romantic connotation for me," he muses.

Shot in a vast North London garage, Rhodes applied his signature aesthetic to the hero bags from Lulu Guinness’s A/W15 collection, interspersing irreverent appliqué leather purses, embroidered handbags and glossy clutches between tough oversized tyres and lipstick-red roses to create a tactile, experimental composition. “I wanted the vermillion hue to be the main focus of the image. Keeping the rest of the palette black allowed the bright red accents to jump out of the frame,” he reveals.

Not only does his chosen Object of Desire draw spirited parallels between the glamourous and the prosaic – but also it’s quite literally playful, as his image is reimagined as dynamic puzzle. “By stacking and laying the tyres it allowed for a structured display of the bags into various forms and levels,” he explains. Of course, this isn't the first time that a sliding puzzle – first invented by Noyes Chapman in 1880 – has been made fashionable. In 2010, Maison Martin Margiela sent guests invitations to their show in the form of the childhood game; while Comme des Garçons toyed with interactive puzzles it’s immersive 2012 Moving Six iPad app.

To further enliven the animation, Brendan Crehan exclusively created a witty, lo-fi soundtrack, designed to work harmoniously with the mood of the piece and the bags themselves.